Deceased May 8, 2018
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In Memory
Av died on May 8.
At Amherst, Av majored in mathematics and was a member of Psi Upsilon. He was active in the outing club, the debate council, the intramural council and Masquers.
Av had planned to study graduate mathematics in Israel. But instead he decided to attend law school. Although he had not taken the LSAT, he was accepted conditionally at Michigan based on his college record and received his J.D. there.
Av expected to practice law in New York, but he wanted first to take a couple of years off and go fishing in Alaska. He fell in love with Alaska and stayed there. He began work in the Legislative Affairs Agency and drafted many laws for the new state. He was attorney general of Alaska from 1974 to 1980. He played a key legal role in the challenges involving the Alaska Permanent Fund, federal-state Native land issues, providing schools in remote villages and a revision of the state criminal code.
As a child, Av studied violin at the Juilliard School. He said he became quite good at it, but he hated it because his father made him practice at 5 a.m. and yelled at him that he wasn’t doing it right. When he went to college, he gave it up. Many years later in Alaska he became interested in fiddle music and started playing again. He played with a band in the Juneau Folk Fest and won a state fiddlers championship.
Av helped form Alaska’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He was an initial director of the State Museum, a charter Juneau Symphony member and board member and chair of Alaska Pacific Bank.
Av is survived by his partner, Annalee McConnell; and children Jody, Alan ’85, Elizabeth and Claire.
Bill Patrick ’57